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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 13th, 2025–Feb 14th, 2025

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

North Columbia, South Columbia, Jordan, North Selkirk, West Purcell, Badshot-Battle, Central Selkirk, Goat, Gold, Kokanee, Retallack, Valhalla, Whatshan.

Cold and calm conditions have preserved loose, soft snow conditions in many areas. Avalanches remain most likely in areas where surface snow is cohesive, likely due to wind or sun.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Since the weekend, several small skier-triggered avalanches (size 1 to 1.5) were reported across the region. These avalanches likely occurred on weak layers of facets and/or sun crusts roughly 20 to 40 cm below the surface.

On Wednesday a size 2.5 avalanche was remotely triggered by a helicopter landing at ridgetop. The avalanche started in a steep shallow start zone on an east aspect around the treeline, failing on a weak layer roughly 100 cm below the surface.

Snowpack Summary

The upper snowpack continues to facet with ongoing cold, clear, and dry conditions, preserving generally soft surface conditions. Variable wind-affected surfaces can be found in exposed terrain at treeline and above.

Various layers buried at the end of January are approximately 20 to 50 cm below the surface. These include sun crusts on sun-affected slopes, surface hoar in shaded terrain at treeline and below, and weak faceted grains elsewhere.

The snowpack remains faceted and weak in places just below these layers following the dry January conditions.

The mid and lower snowpack is generally well-settled and strong.

Weather Summary

Thursday Night

Mostly clear skies. 10 to 20 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -12 °C.

Friday

Partly cloudy with up to 2 cm of snow. 10 to 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -12 °C.

Saturday

Mix of sun and cloud. 20 to 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.

Sunday

Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow. 10 to 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperatrure -10 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Back off if you encounter whumpfing, hollow sounds, or shooting cracks.
  • Be alert to conditions that change with elevation and sun exposure.
  • Carefully evaluate steep lines for wind slabs.
  • Be aware of the potential for loose avalanches in steep terrain where snow hasn't formed a slab.
  • Be aware of the potential for remote triggering and large avalanches due to buried surface hoar.

Problems

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.